Charleston advances in NIT

Andrew Goudelock knew the shots would start to fall, even after he missed his first five attempts Tuesday night.

“I get this feeling. My hands get kind of warm,” he said. “I know what’s going to happen.”

Goudelock had a career-high 39 points, including eight 3-pointers, and College of Charleston beat defending champion Dayton 94-84 in the first round of the NIT.

“Drew put on a show. It was good to see,” Cougars coach Bobby Cremins said.

The sixth-seeded Cougars (25-10) will take on No. 2 seed Cleveland State in the next round. Goudelock didn’t disappoint the near sellout crowd of 4,717 for his final game at Carolina First Arena. The senior’s first 3-pointer gave Charleston the lead for good, 20-18. The senior hit two 3s three minutes later that pushed the lead to 31-21.

Goudelock kept it up after halftime, adding a 3 and a jumper that gave the Cougars their largest lead at 73-55 with 8 minutes left.

Chris Wright had 21 points for Dayton (22-14), which normally would have been at home as the higher seed but its arena was being used for the NCAA tournament’s opening games.

“Don’t remind me,” Flyers coach Brian Gregory said with a smile.

A year ago, Gregory said his Dayton players were angry at losing in the Atlantic 10 tournament and took that edge into the NIT. This time, after falling to Richmond in Sunday’s A-10 title game, Gregory thought his club came in more disappointed than ticked.

Still, the Flyers battled back to cut Charleston’s lead to 81-74 with 1:34 left on Paul Williams’ inside basket. That was as close as they could get in their sixth game in the past 11 days.

Gregory sees the same drive in Charleston – the Cougars lost the Southern Conference tournament finals to Wofford last week – to make a long NIT run as he did with his team last season. Goudelock is that extra punch that opponents will have to stop.

“He’s a Triple Crown-type player from the guard spot,” Gregory said.

Donavan Monroe added 23 points for the Cougars, who were 30 of 38 from the foul line. Goudelock surpassed his previous best of 34 points set last month against Elon. His eight 3-pointers tied his career high.